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When asked which players you thought played well during the game, the best answer probably isn’t several seconds of silence followed by a bunch of words that roughly translate to “no one.”
It’s hard to argue that coach Guy Gadowsky was wrong in his assessment, though, however reactionary it may have been.
Gadowsky did walk it back by saying in the coming days he’ll watch film of Penn State’s 6-0 loss to Ohio State and may come back with a better answer, but on paper at least, it’s understandable that Gadowsky didn’t find much he liked.
Goals By Period
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | Final |
| Ohio State | 2 | 2 | 2 | x | 6 |
| Penn State | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 0 |
The defense was obviously porous, affording the Buckeyes (19-7-2, 11-5-2 Big Ten) far too many odd-man rushes. Even that was less about the Nittany Lions (14-13-1, 5-12-1) defense having a truly poor performance, but more a product of an offense that had done everything right except put the puck in the net growing impatient.
With that impatience came harder pressing, and with that pressing came more turnovers and quicker transition play from the Buckeyes.
The catalyst for that impatience was Buckeyes goaltender Jakub Dobes. After stopping 46 of 48 shots on Friday, Dobes posted a 51-save shutout.
How It Happened
The Buckeyes broke the ice midway through the first period. Jake Wise redirected a point shot from Will Riedell over the right shoulder of Oskar Autio.
A few minutes later, Wise picked up his second of the period. After pulling Autio out of position on a give-and-go with Joe Dunlap, Wise tapped the puck into a mostly empty net.
Early in the second period, Dunlap extended the Buckeyes lead to three. On a 2-on-1 rush, Dunlap slid a one timer past Autio’s left leg off a feed from Cam Thiesing.
Midway through the period, the Buckeyes extended their lead once again. Gerogii Merkulov flew down the right wing on a 2-on-1 rush and fired a shot past Autio’s blocker.
Barely a minute into the third period, the Buckeyes capitalized on their second power play of the game, as Mason Lohrei sent a point shot through a crowd, off the post, and in.
Tate Singleton added another later in the period, burying a shot into an empty cage after a nice passing sequence.